Chà Chà Novel

Shang Jianli could hardly believe they were the same person.

After composing himself, he opened the stack of documents.

In the years of Ji Shileng’s life he had never been part of, Ji Shileng had indeed been exactly as the video showed.

The documents described how his parents spoiled him. In reality, his sister and brother indulged him even more.

How many hectares did a golf course cover? He had said to tear it up, and they had actually stripped it bare and laid new turf.

The “weakness” and “timidity” he had shown as the general’s spouse had all been concessions Ji Shileng willingly made.

Shang Jianli was already cold and decisive enough. His partner, then, could not be too forceful.

Otherwise, things would hardly have been comfortable for Shang Jianli.

Ji Shileng’s expressions and manner since their reunion had not felt unfamiliar. Shang Jianli knew that this was the real him.

The real Ji Shileng was free and unrestrained, gentle yet proud.

His back should always have been straight—not bowed in submission, his head lowered, afraid to speak.

For some reason, the more Shang Jianli learned about him, the more his heart ached.

Ji Shileng should never have been bound by anything, yet at his side, he had suffered endless mistreatment.

At last, Shang Jianli also understood why the Ji family treated him with such indifference.

If anyone else bullied their youngest, they would surely have countless ways to retaliate.

But with Shang Jianli, they could do nothing.

They hated him bitterly, yet could only pretend he did not exist.

More precisely, it was not that they lacked the means to deal with him. The deeper reason was that Ji Shileng did not want to settle those scores.

First, Shang Jianli was someone he had genuinely loved.

Second, his position remained what it was. An Imperial general was hardly someone easily pushed around.

Why, then, had the general’s spouse been so easy to bully?

The answer was simple. No one had cared about him.

After briefly reading another two pages, Shang Jianli put the documents away.

No wonder Chu Wan had looked at him that way. No wonder she had tried to persuade him to stop and abandon his fixation.

Ji Shileng might soften, but his family certainly would not.

Now that he was home, he would no longer break with his entire family for love.

Nor would his family permit the same “mistake” to happen again.

But what could Shang Jianli do? He would not give up.

Asking him to give up Ji Shileng was no different from asking him to die.

Feelings recognized too late left the deepest mark.

Aboard the starship, Ji Shileng exited the game and sat cross-legged on the floor with Su Ke, discussing the upcoming guild war.

Honestly, there was little to discuss. With their guild’s benefits, there would be no shortage of skilled players willing to join.

“Shi, seriously, that username is a problem”

Su Ke had never felt comfortable with it.

If only the first part of JianliShiFangLeng were changed, he would have far fewer objections.

Ji Shileng saw nothing wrong with it.

“People are free to choose their usernames. Besides, even I don’t mind—”

Su Ke interrupted him with repeated, heavy sighs.

Ji Shileng fell silent.

He had truly had enough. Worn down by Su Ke’s persistence, he gave in.

“Then talk to him yourself. Ask him to change it”

Everyone was free to use whatever username they liked. Even Ji Shileng, the person supposedly concerned, did not feel offended.

Su Ke cheered, logged in, and sent JianliShiFangLeng a message.

[Little Grass Has No Answers]: Hey, man. Could you change your username? I’ll cover the star credits.

Seeing the avatar had turned gray, Su Ke knew the other player was offline. He was in no hurry, leisurely sending several world-channel messages to recruit members for the coming guild war.

The message would be seen eventually. The upcoming guild war was what mattered now.

Ji Shifeng had stopped reading and was handling work on his intelligent laptop instead.

The technical consultant had his own tasks too.

Left to himself, Ji Shileng could not be bothered to keep playing. He opened the game forum, where a red-highlighted thread on the homepage caught his eye.

[I Have Reason to Suspect the General’s Spouse Was the Later Owner of Shileng’s Account]

The title was remarkably straightforward. Interested, Ji Shileng clicked through.

The poster’s analysis was well reasoned. Since the Ji family’s hackers had erased all the news reports and rumors about the general’s spouse, the evidence consisted entirely of photographs of printed newspapers.

[Just an Alt]: Everyone, here’s the newspaper photo exposing the general’s spouse playing a guild battle. You can see the Nether Phoenix’s skill effects on his screen.

In Path to Stardom, crafting a Nether Phoenix required at least several million star credits.

As a result, very few players owned the mount.

[Just an Alt]: The Nether Phoenix prize pool only opened the day before the guild battle. According to that day’s system announcements, Shang No.1 was the only player to spend several million star credits on the first day.

[Just an Alt]: Given that username, it’s reasonable to suspect it referred to Shang Jianli.

Ji Shileng was wide awake now, his slender, pale fingers tapping lightly against the floor.

He felt neither irritation nor anger at having his identity uncovered. He merely thought the forum was full of talented people.

From one photograph of him playing a guild battle, to the Nether Phoenix’s effects, to the connection between the general’s spouse and Third Young Master Ji—

They had not merely come close. They had figured it out exactly.

Quite interesting.

Looking back on what he had done, Ji Shileng felt no embarrassment, only a little wistfulness.

He marveled at how far he had been willing to go to love someone.

His love had always been something he could be proud of.

Thankfully, it was over now. Everyone should return to their original paths.

He would resume his carefree life as a privileged young master. Shang Jianli would continue being his accomplished young general.

Today’s meeting would be their last.

From this point on, that was the end of them. They would not meet again.

Often, the Ji family left Shang Jianli alone because they understood Ji Shileng.

Once Ji Shileng stopped wronging himself and suppressing his temper, there was no hope for the two of them.

Neither would bow his head.

“Fuck!”

Su Ke’s sudden exclamation startled Ji Shileng.

“Something wrong?”

Su Ke shook his head, looking displeased.

“Who’s got nothing better to do than dig into your identity? They’ve laid it all out like they know everything”

He handed over his phone. Onscreen was the very thread Ji Shileng had just read.

Ji Shileng glanced at it casually.

“I’ve seen it. Their deductions are correct”

“No. I’m contacting the studio and having them delete it”

“It’s fine”

“Huh?”

Ji Shileng did not take it to heart.

“Deleting it would only make people more suspicious. Just leave it there”